Politic-Economic-Society-Tech

Bomb scare in Indonesia as protests grow

By Lindsay Murdoch, Herald Correspondent in Jakarta and agencies

Indonesia yesterday expressed its deep concern about the US-led strikes on Afghanistan as anti-Western demonstrations continued to grow across the country and an attempt was made to bomb an Australian company office in the Sulawesi city of Makassar.

The small, hand-made bomb thrown over the fence of Australian MLC Life Insurance company shortly before dawn failed to explode. A similar bomb exploded a short time earlier at a KFC fast food outlet in Makassar, one of the Indonesian cities where anti-US protesters have been staging daily demonstrations. Nobody was hurt in the blast.

Five people were injured when police tried to break up a protest yesterday in Indonesia's second largest city, Surabaya, as thousands of Muslims prepared to take to the streets after Friday's prayers. Thousands of troops and police with orders to use lethal force if necessary massed throughout the capital Jakarta after reports that hardline groups planned to cause trouble.

Hundreds of protesters outside the fortified US embassy chanted "expel Americans" and "Americans are terrorists" and threatened to search hotels for American and British nationals.

In Malaysia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad called for a halt in the air strikes on Afghanistan, while his police turned water cannon on 3,000 protesters outside the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirajuda, urged the United Nations to replace the US in leading the fight against terrorism, saying the US military action in Afghanistan was causing "deep concern" in Jakarta.

Mr Wirajuda demanded the US action be "truly limited in terms of deployment, target and duration, thereby limiting civilian casualties". He said Indonesia was shocked by the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington and had made clear it would stand side-by-side with the US it its fight against terrorism.

"However, we are also concerned about the strikes on Afghanistan," he said. "They should not amount to an attack on the people of Afghanistan or their Islamic faith."

The government of Megawati Sukarnoputri has come under increasing pressure from radical Muslim groups and influential politicians to sever diplomatic ties with Washington over the US-led strikes. "The Islamic community in Indonesia does not feel represented by Megawati," said Yahya Staquf, the deputy secretary-general of the moderate National Awakening Party.

Two hardline Islamic groups have vowed to expel foreigners from Indonesia and attack US interests in the country if the government does not take a tougher stand against the US.

Breaking her silence on the US action, Mrs Megawati said: "The government has been asked to be more pro-active in looking at the situation. [We] will keep evaluating and monitoring future developments."

About 90 per cent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslims. Mr Wirajuda played down US media reports that Washington considered South-East Asia to be hub for Muslim extremists and the US would probably target groups in Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia. "There is no communication [with Washington] on that," he said.

Malaysia has asked the US to explain the reports. Malaysia's deputy prime minister, Abdullah Badawi, said: "America needs to tell us which groups are involved, whether they are Malaysians or foreigners who have a base here to carry out such violent activities so that we can help them and cooperate with them to eliminate these terrorists."

Western intelligence officials believe Malaysia has become a favourite destination for Muslim extremists because it allows visa free entry for people from almost all Islamic countries. Indonesian authorities believe most of the extremists who arrive in Indonesian move through Malaysia. But Malaysia insists that it does not harbour terrorists or their assets.

"We cooperated and gave them (the Americans) information on two persons whom they connected to the World Trade Centre incident," Mr Badawi told journalists.



source: smh.com.au, 13 October 2001